SUNY CORTLAND FOOTBALL NOTES
ECAC Div. III Southeast Bowl
Cortland Red Dragons (8-2) vs. Albright College Lions (6-4)
Saturday, Nov. 19, 2011; 12 p.m.; SUNY Cortland Stadium Complex; Cortland, N.Y.
Game broadcast live on WXHC, Homer (101.5 FM and www.wxhc.com)

Follow the game online:
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Game Program (PDF)

THE MATCHUP: SUNY Cortland hosts Albright College in the 2011 Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) Div. III Southeast Bowl. The Red Dragons and Lions are playing for the first time in their long football histories.


CORTLAND CAPSULE: Cortland finished the regular season with an 8-2 record and tied for second place in the 10-team New Jersey Athletic Conference (NJAC) with a 7-2 mark. The Red Dragons' two losses were by a combined six points – a 21-16 loss at home to eventual NJAC champion Kean Sept. 17 and a 34-33 setback at Montclair State Oct. 8.

Graduate student quarterback Dan Pitcher has enjoyed a record-setting season. He has completed 177-of-282 passes (62.8 percent) for 2,442 yards and 29 touchdowns and has been intercepted only four times. His 29 TD passes are a new school single-season record, and he also holds the school career record with 52 TD throws. Pitcher's 2,442 passing yards are the highest regular-season total in school history and second overall behind Ray Miles' 2,963 yards in 13 games in 2008 (Miles threw for 2,318 yards in the regular season that year and Steve Sanzo passed for 2,342 yards in the 1994 regular season).

Pitcher also has broken his own school record by throwing a TD pass in 12 consecutive games (all 10 this year and two NCAA games in 2010). His previous record of 11 games spanned from 2009-10 and ended the game before his new streak started. He also tied a school single-game record with five TD passes in a win at Brockport two weeks ago.

Sophomore wide receiver John Babin has also written his name into the Cortland record books. He has broken single-season records with his 1,110 receiving yards and 15 touchdown catches and is tied for the school record with 68 receptions. Babin has caught at least one TD pass in nine of 10 games. Senior tailback Dorian Myles took over as the starter after Justin Autera suffered a season-ending injury versus Kean. Myles averages 85.6 yards rushing per game with four touchdowns, while freshman tailback Bronson Greene has run for 11 touchdowns.

Senior linebackers Bill Smith and Cody Allen lead the Red Dragons with 74 and 65 tackles. Senior cornerback D.J. Romano has intercepted three passes and Allen has two interceptions. Freshman linebacker Jesse Scanna is the team leader with eight of Cortland's 37 sacks, followed by sophomore defensive end Joe Kirchner with seven sacks. Cortland's offensive line of tackles Matt Pitcher and Billy Castro, guards Mike Wutzer and Randy Bloom and center Corey Hymes has allowed only eight sacks. Pitcher, Castro and Hymes are seniors. Wutzer and Bloom are juniors.

Head coach Dan MacNeill is in his 15th season with the Red Dragons. His overall record of 98-54 (.645) ranks him second at Cortland in career victories and first in winning percentage. He was the NJAC Coach of the Year and a finalist for Liberty Mutual National Div. III Coach of the Year honors in 2008 after leading the Red Dragons to the league title and the NCAA quarterfinals.

MacNeill has guided Cortland to the NCAA playoffs in 1997, 2005, 2008 and 2010. His 2008 squad was honored with the Lambert Meadowlands Trophy and the ECAC Div. III Team of the Year awards. His teams were also selected for ECAC Bowl Games five times, with victories in 2002 vs. Westfield State and 2007 vs. Union. MacNeill is a 1979 Cortland alumnus and played linebacker and defensive tackle from 1975-78. An assistant coach at Division I-AA Villanova University from 1984-1996, MacNeill is Cortland's 11th head coach since the school's modern era of football began in 1924. MacNeill served as linebackers coach at Villanova and was the team's defensive coordinator from 1988-96.


A LOOK AT...ALBRIGHT COLLEGE: Albright finished the regular season with a 6-4 record and a 4-4 mark in the Middle Atlantic Conference. Three of the Lions' losses came to teams that have qualified for the postseason – undefeated and NCAA bound Delaware Valley and ECAC hosts Widener and Lebanon Valley.

The Lions are 5-1 in ECAC Bowl games - they defeated Salisbury in 1995, Wesley in 1997 and 2001, McDaniel in 2004 and Montclair St. in 2008, and lost to Montclair St. in 2007. Albright has also made four NCAA tournament appearances (1976, 1977, 1996, 2009). Their 2009 season was very similar to Cortland's 2008 campaign with an 11-2 final record and an NCAA quarterfinal loss at Mount Union.

Albright's offense averages 34.4 points and 396.6 yards of total offense per game. Two quarterbacks have shared the signalcalling duties this fall. Sophomore T.J. Luddy is 87-of-135 (64.4 percent) passing for 1,195 yards and 12 touchdowns and junior Adam Galczynski is 72-of-125 (57.6 percent) for 1,167 yards and eight touchdowns. Senior Scott Pillar is the team's top receiver with 60 catches for 1,051 yards and 12 touchdowns and senior tailback Josan Holmes averages 61.1 rushing yards per game with seven touchdowns.

Senior linebacker Sam Ott paces the Albright defense with 75 tackles and senior cornerback Mark Bergery has 53 tackles and eight pass breakups. Junior defensive tackle Matt Pattison and junior defensive end Don Gould each have recorded 4.5 sacks. Freshman placekicker Jordan Loiodice has made 5-of-6 field goals, including a 42-yarder and 38-yarder, and 39-of-41 point-after kicks. Senior punter Brooks Mitzkewich averages an impressive 42.1 yards per punt. That figure would rank seventh nationally in Division III, but Mitzkewich is two attempts short of the 3.6 punt-per-game minimum needed for NCAA rankings.

John Marzka is in his fifth season as Albright's head coach. He inherited a team that finished 2-8 in 2006 and has led the Lions to a combined 37-18 record (.673) and four postseason appearances, including this season. Albright's 11 victories in 2009 were the most at the College in a history that dates back more than 100 years.

Marzka graduated from Allegheny College in 1991. He was a three-year letterwinner and two-year starting center for the Gators and served as a senior co-captain on Allegheny's 1990 NCAA Div. III national championship squad. Marzka served as an assistant coach at Allegheny, the offensive coordinator at Fordham University and the associate head coach at Thiel College prior to his hiring at Albright.


NOTEBOOK:

* Quarterback Dan Pitcher was chosen as the quarterback on the D3football.com national Team of the Week and earned his third NJAC Offensive Player of the Week honor for his standout performance at Ithaca last week. He completed 23-of-36 passes for 280 yards and three touchdowns and was the game's leading rusher with 94 yards on 11 carries.

* Pitcher remains on pace to record the best passing efficiency rating in one season at Cortland. His current rating is 166.6, and the school record (minimum 100 pass attempts) is 157.5 by current assistant coach Alex Smith in 2006. Next on the list is Ray Miles at 155.9 in 2008 and J.J. Tutwiler with ratings of 153.7 in 2001 and 137.7 in 2002. The rating, which has been calculated by the NCAA since 1979, weighs four statistics – completion percentage, yards per attempt, touchdowns per attempt and interceptions per attempt.

* Senior cornerback D.J. Romano ranks second at Cortland with 14 career interceptions (three this season) and is one shy of tying the school record of 15 set by cornerback Jeff Beck from 2004-07.

* Freshman tailback Bronson Greene has scored a team-high 11 rushing touchdowns this fall – the most by a freshman in school history – despite not starting any game and playing in only nine contests to date. Greene ran for four touchdowns vs. Morrisville – one TD rush shy of tying the school single-game record.

* Cortland has scored more than 50 points in three games this season (55 vs. Morrisville, 56 at Western Connecticut St. and 64 last week at Brockport). Only one other Cortland team has reached the 50-point mark three times in a season – the 1991 squad opened the season with 71 points vs. St. John Fisher and 67 points at Wilkes, and later in the year scored 52 points at home vs. Brockport.

* Cortland has gained more than 400 yards in eight of its 10 games this season, including a school-record streak of six straight games that ended in a win over TCNJ on Oct. 29. Cortland averages 419.0 yards per game (4,190 yards in 10 games) – the school record is 448.1 yards per game in 1990 (4,481 yards in 10 games; regular season only).

* Cortland has allowed only eight sacks over a combined 308 pass plays (300 pass attempts plus eight sacks). That 2.6 percent “sack rate” is currently the lowest for Cortland since sacks were first officially tracked at Cortland in 1982. The school record for a season is 3.6 percent in 2002 (12 sacks allowed on 335 pass plays).

* Cortland and Albright rank in the top 30 nationally in Division III in the following categories:

CORTLAND:

Tied 3rd, Sacks, 3.7/game
9th, Passing Efficiency, 162.8 rating
13th, Rushing Defense, 86.7 yds./game
Tied 15th, Tackles for Loss, 8.3/game
Tied 16th, Sacks Allowed, 0.8/game
23rd, Scoring Offense, 36.8 pts./game
26th, Total Defense, 278.7 yds./game

Dan Pitcher, 7th, Passing Efficiency, 166.6 rating
John Babin, 14th, Receiving Yardage, 111.0 yds./game
John Babin, Tied 28th, Receptions, 6.8/game

ALBRIGHT:

14th, Passing Efficiency, 157.2 rating
24th, Net Punting, 34.5 yds./punt

Scott Pillar, 23rd, Receiving Yardage, 105.1 yds./game


* Cortland's defense has recorded 37 sacks in 10 regular season games, including eight last week at Ithaca. Cortland now has totaled 30 or more sacks each of the last 11 seasons (2001-11), including 50 or more in both 2005 and 2006. Cortland's 50 sacks in 2006 were the best nationally in Division III. The Red Dragons set a school record with 52 sacks in 2005 (sacks have been officially tracked at Cortland since 1982).

* Cortland is in its 12th season as a football-only member of the New Jersey Athletic Conference (NJAC). The Red Dragons compete in the State University of New York Athletic Conference (SUNYAC) in most of their other sports. Cortland was the first non-New Jersey school to join the NJAC for football, starting in the 2000 season, and has since been joined by Western Connecticut State, Buffalo State, Brockport and Morrisville. Cortland has finished at least tied for first in the NJAC five times since 2005 (2005-08, 2010).

* Albright accomplished a rare feat recently – the Lions allowed exactly one point to an opponent in a victory. Albright went on an NCAA-allowed foreign tour to Canada this past May and played the defending Bol d'Or Finals champions Vanier College of Montreal, Quebec. Albright won the game 35-1 – the Cheetah's lone point awarded on a “rouge” (also known as a “single”) per Canadian football rules when Albright did not return a punt out of its own end zone.

* Former Cortland men's lacrosse assistant coach and Homer, N.Y., native Jake Plunket was hired as Albright's first varsity men's lacrosse head coach in September 2010. Plunket has been building the Lions' program, which will play its first varsity season next spring. Plunket served as a Red Dragon assistant coach from 2006-08, during which time Cortland won the 2006 NCAA title and finished second in both 2007 and 2008.


Cortland's Weekly Award Winners (game date/opponent in parentheses)

Cody Allen, Sr., Linebacker
D3football.com Team of the Week (Sept. 24 at Rowan)
D3football.com Team of the Week (Special Teams) (Oct. 1 vs. Morrisville St.)
D3football.com Team of the Week (Oct. 29 vs. The College of New Jersey)

John Babin, So., Wide Receiver
NJAC Offensive Player of the Week (Sept. 3 vs. Buffalo St.)

Pete Furey, Jr., Punter
NJAC Special Teams Player of the Week (Sept. 3 vs. Buffalo St.)

Bronson Greene, Fr., Running Back
NJAC Offensive Rookie of the Week (Oct. 1 vs. Morrisville St.)
NJAC Offensive Rookie of the Week (Oct. 8 at Montclair St.)

Dan Pitcher, Gr., Quarterback
NJAC Offensive Player of the Week (Sept. 24 at Rowan)
NJAC Offensive Player of the Week (Nov. 5 at Brockport)
D3football.com Team of the Week (Nov. 12 at Ithaca)
NJAC Offensive Player of the Week (Nov. 12 at Ithaca)

D.J. Romano, Sr., Cornerback
D3football.com Team of the Week (Special Teams) (Oct. 29 vs. The College of New Jersey)

Jesse Scanna, Fr., Linebacker
NJAC Defensive Rookie of the Week (Oct. 15 at Western Conn. St.)

Bill Smith, Sr., Linebacker
D3football.com Team of the Week (Special Teams) (Oct. 29 vs. The College of New Jersey)

Andrew Tolosi, Fr., Cornerback
NJAC Defensive Rookie of the Week (Sept. 24 at Rowan)


SCHEDULES/RESULTS:


CORTLAND (8-2)

Sept. 3      * BUFFALO ST.                          W 28-12
Sept. 17    * KEAN (NJ)                              L 16-21
Sept. 24    * at Rowan (NJ)                        W 31-28
Oct. 1        * MORRISVILLE ST.                   W 55-14
Oct. 8        * at Montclair St. (NJ)                L 33-34
Oct. 15      * at Western Connecticut St.      W 56-10
Oct. 22      * WILLIAM PATERSON (NJ)         W 35-7
Oct. 29      * THE COLLEGE of NEW JERSEY  W 23-20
Nov. 5        * at Brockport                           W 64-43
Nov. 12         at Ithaca                                W 27-3
Nov. 19      # ALBRIGHT (PA)                      12:00

* NJAC game (7-2)      # ECAC Southeast Bowl
HOME GAMES IN CAPS


ALBRIGHT (6-4)

Sept. 3        at Ursinus (PA)                      W 24-17
Sept. 10      GENEVA (PA)                        W 46-10
Sept. 17   * WILKES (PA)                         W 65-26
Sept. 24   * at King's (PA)                        W 57-17
Oct. 1       * at Lycoming (PA)                   L 13-35
Oct. 8       * LEBANON VALLEY (PA)           L 17-24
Oct. 15     * DELAWARE VALLEY (PA)         L 10-20
Oct. 21     * at FDU-Florham (NJ)             W 35-10
Oct. 29     * WIDENER (PA)                     L 20-60
Nov. 5      * at Stevenson (MD)                W 57-21
Nov. 19    # at Cortland                          12:00

* Middle Atlantic Conference game (4-4)    # ECAC Southeast Bowl
HOME GAMES IN CAPS


CORTLAND vs. ALBRIGHT – SERIES RECORD

First meeting in 2011